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I can’t believe how quickly two and a bit weeks have passed since the start of the Olympics. A superb performance from team GB who have had me well and truly on the edge of my seat at times. No doubt about it, I can report that they certainly gave me a feel good factor but now what, I feel lost without it.
As a Brit and hearing plenty of rumours surrounding the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, I admit I was cringing at the thought of how bad it all sounded and I was wondering what the world would be thinking, looking at us in bewilderment as to what on earth was going on. Within 5 minutes of the start my fears turned to joy as the ceremony got under way and what a spectacular show it was. Truly British and if some feel too British for other countries to fully understand I don’t care, it is our turn to host the games and despite being a multi national country I felt it made a pleasant change for something to show off what makes Britain GREAT.
From the scenes dipicting the green grass and fields making way for the industrial revolution and the way the five rings were made to look like they were forged from iron right through to Mr Bean showing that we have a great sense of humour and even the Queen joining in as she was escorted by James Bond himself – I loved it. Personally I would have not have had Paul McCartney bringing the end to the nights proceedings, partly because it really is time for him to retire and second I just get fed-up with him closing every event that we hold here in the UK but I won’t let that spoil what I felt was a fantastic opening ceremony.
Summer is on it’s way, it is now two months ago that I purchased a new BBQ and I still haven’t been able to use it. After the wettest June and what is likely to be the wettest July on record the forecast for next week is 27c. You have to admire the Greeks and the approach they take. Petroula Kostidou is a rather controversial Greek weather girl, I have no idea why!?.
Living in Northampton and being just 20 minutes from Silverstone (I should add 20 minutes on a non race day) you would think a Grand Prix fan would have seen his fair share of British Grand Prix’s. The truth is I have seen just the one, it was an enjoyable experience and one that I am glad to have ticked off my bucket list, however it has to be said, watching it on the TV is much more fun. At the race track you don’t get to see what is going on apart from when they whiz past you, blink and you have missed it. You don’t get to hear or see why your favourite driver just lost three places on the last lap and if you do blink and miss it you haven’t got the added bonus of a replay. The biggest bonus for me in watching it on TV is that you don’t have 20 minute journey turn into a two hour drive there and another two hours back and you don’t have to wade through a mud bath when it rains and seeing as this is England there is an awful amount of the wet stuff around at present.
Funny enough I received a local man and a van request from a potential customer the other day, it was for Friday 6th July. I knew automatically that the NN12 postcode meant Towcester and the lady was wishing for some goods to be transported to Oxford, a drive that should take me right past and through Silverstone. I politely turned down the opportunity to be anywhere near this area and how glad I was when later that evening the BBC News reported on the traffic chaos caused by fans trying to get in to watch the first official practice session and the terrible wet weather conditions flooding the car parks. One report commented on how it was taking 2 hours to drive 100 meters – when you consider a certain Mr Bolt can do this in under 9 seconds.
So with more rain forecast for today and the two main chances we have in Button and Hamilton starting 18th and 8th what chances do we have of seeing a Brit on the podium? Personally I feel Hamilton has a great chance of a top 3, sadly I have to say first might be out of his reach on this occasion but we can all hope. In Today’s other major sporting event we have Murray in the men’s final at Wimbledon, he is Scottish and I did see an Interview where he said he wanted England to lose at football (which put me off him a little) but it is he that has a chip on his shoulder so I would still like to see the BRIT win. Personally I think Button has more chance at coming first today than Murray winning, not that it saddens me because if I had to choose between Button winning the British Grand Prix or Murray winning the Wimbledon final I know which I would pick.
Well the garden is coming along nicely, the guys doing it are not coming today, they have a maintenance commitment but it is my birthday and it is the first time in several years that I won’t be working on it. My wife is also off so we enjoyed a quiet day at home and very shortly we are heading out for dinner to a local Indian restaurant with the family. I forgot to take a picture of the progress and I can’t be bothered to go and take one now as I need to jump in the shower and spruce myself up.
Like many who have previously shopped at eBuyer, I received an email informing me that they were going to be having a crash sale on Monday 28th November with all sale items listed at £1.00. The sale was due to start at 11.00am but if you ‘liked’ the eBuyer facebook page you would earn yourself a 30 minute head start on everyone else, well not quite everyone as an impressive 48,000 people clicked that little old like button.
I wondered if it would be the usual tat these kind of sales usually have for sale, the kind of stuff more suitable for a car boot sale, maybe a few cables, blank CDs cable ties and the kind of stuff you could find in any old pound shop. Curiosity grabbed me and just before 10.30am I made my way to the eBuyer home page; that was the last time I saw it until around 21.00hrs. Despite several attempts to see what this wonderful £1 sale had to offer I never even managed to get the front page to load, not alone see what I bargain I might have grabbed.
In a second browser window I had the eBuyer facebook page open which was filling up at a rate of a new page a second with angry and disgruntled customers. At one stage I caught a post by eBuyer themselves saying we are sorry some of you are having problems it is due to the unprecedented demand?? Hang on a second, firstly ‘some of you’ more like 99% of us and secondly eBuyer is a technology store, they sell computer parts and they never realised that their servers were not up to 48k people visiting all at once instead eBuyer launched their very own DDoS attack on themselves.
Today the eBuyer facebook page is still filling with angry customers, not just those that never managed to see what fantastic £1 deals there were but customers who completed checkout only to be told today that the item they thought they had grabbed for a pound was out of stock. So what now for eBuyer? They still have 48,000 facebook likes, google will love all those likes and that is 48,000 people eBuyer can advertise to with a single post. They have a few thousand disgruntled customers to contend with but that should be easy to sort. I would expect to see a more realistic sale announced before Christmas, probably a 25% - 30% sale.
We are all very forgiving when it comes to bargains and we all have short memories so I dare say those complaining will be straight back looking for a bargain if or when the next sale is announced. Scam, Disaster or Great Marketing Ploy?
It is that time of year again where family ask you what you would like for Christmas. I am lucky, my wife does spoil me spending far too much (but I like it), however when it comes to others asking what you would like or can they have a list to select from I always stumble wondering what to put down? You don’t want to look greedy putting down items that are over £50 but then most things that are under that price bracket I already have them if I want them. My movie and music collection is all in digital format so it leaves my list looking something like boxer shorts, aftershave, socks and a computer game that I probably will not play much, maybe an hour total as I am not a big games player. Then the comments start, usually along the lines of a groan and a moan that I pick the same old things every year. I guess I am just spoilt, yes I will consider myself lucky and yes I do realise that Christmas is about giving not receiving but excuse me, I have a list to write!!
My first attempt at a unique theme using Artisteer, I am 90% happy with the theme, I can’t quite put my finger on it why it just doesn’t quite do it for me at the moment so I shall have another mess around in a few days and see what I can come up with.
I was never much of a James Bond fan until Daniel Craig filled the shoes of 007. Daniel Craig playing the part of Mr Bond is a perfect combination, a little like Matt Damon and The Bourne Supremacy. As much as I have never really been a James Bond fan in the past I could probably name two James Bond women. Halle Berry because I thought it was all much to do about nothing, her emerging from the water did nothing for me and it wasn’t a patch on the original Ursula Andress moment (that’s two). The third I can remember is Britt Ekland but that is only because I met her at a collectors fair, she was very pleasant but then I did purchase a signed picture.
I have a feeling I am going to remember the next James Bond girl, well I shall remember her face but probably not the name, Bérénice Marlohe. French actress Bérénice is set to play the part of Severin in Skyfall for which filming commenced yesterday in London with a release date set for November 2012.